Today in NC State History: WKNC joins the ‘Peace’ movement

January 14, 2015

By Chris Saunders

The year 1960 brought with it what the Agromeck referred to as the “Crystal Anniversary” of WKNC, NC State’s student-run radio station. A 1960 issue of The Technician, in fact, credits an electrical engineering student with starting the “low power station in his dormitory room” 15 years earlier.

But that January also welcomed the station’s newly expanded reach, as it was on this day 55 years ago that it was announced in The Technician that WKNC would also broadcast “to the girls at Peace College.”

“This means that Peace students now have the opportunity to hear the very best in college radio entertainment,” The Technician reported. “They will also have the chance to request the type of music they prefer. Of course, State students can make dedications to their girls at Peace College. The best show for requests is ‘Dedicated to You’ heard each weekday night at 9 o’clock.”

The WKNC staff looks over records in 1960. Photo courtesy of the Agromeck.

According to the article, there had been three attempts the previous seven years to deliver the sounds of the 1950s to Peace College, today named William Peace University. But the successful attempt announced in 1960 marked an important accomplishment for WKNC.

“To the best of our knowledge,” The Technician reported, “WKNC is the first college station in the southeast to serve two independent college campuses.”